As histories of India continue to be written and rewritten, this course will explore the history and politics of India through characterizations of ideologies and movements of resistance. The course will examine a few key historical and political events that have been essentially understood as either revolutions, rebellions or reforms. It will bring together different discourses and languages that constitute the event and dismantle them to help us understand the processes of historiography. While the course centrally addresses the question of ‘doing history’, it will also undertake a detailed study of particular moments of resistance.

The course will tentatively address the following set of events: the 1757 Battle of Plassey, the 1857 Mutiny/First war of Independence, the 1835 educational reforms, the Anti-Sati Act and Gandhi’s Satyagraha.

1. Discuss competently with sufficient empirical material the events identified in the course
2. Assess the changing role of archives in the understanding of histories of resistance
3. Demonstrate competent grasp of theoretical literature on resistance and show familiarity with different schools that are in conversation on histories of resistance
4. Demonstrate the ability to critically evaluate multiple histories
5. Construct creatively and justify a plan for doing history

2 hours lectures and 1 tutorial each week.

Enrolment in Graduate program

Undergraduate degree

Readings provided on Wattle.

Access to Wattle